


Versus

by cantodelcolibri



Series: Nothing More to Say (if you insist) [3]
Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: F/M, Fluff, KuroFai, M/M, Missing Scene, One Shot Collection, and again, family man they're a family, lecourt world, romance but only if you could call it that, that break our heart later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-05 22:51:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4198035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cantodelcolibri/pseuds/cantodelcolibri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a look Sakura barely remembered from her childhood. It was a look her father gave to her mother when he was out of his depth, and asking for what to do next. A look that belayed absolute trust and certainty that together they could figure something out. As she watched the adults in their ragtag group fuss over Syaoran, she knew that that memory, however precious it was to her, would soon be overshadowed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nurture

_LeCourt_

* * *

 

Sakura lives in a constant state of anxiety.

_Why does my head hurt when I try to remember why does my heart hurt when I cannot? Who took my memories from me what is their purpose what are these dreams? What is Fai-san lying about why is Kurogane-san cursed? Why does Syaoran-kun look at me like that? What am I doing wrong how can I help them fight why am I always the one waiting? Why can I do nothing more than smile? Why can't I protect everyone the way they protect me?_

Sometimes she feels a trace of _something_ at her fingertips. Something that makes her sure she is meant to do something more. Something at the back of her mind that makes her sure she can battle as many demons as Kurogane, but without need of a sword. As many demons as Fai, but with a genuine smile. She knows she can dispel those monsters. She just doesn't know why or how.

But oh, how dearly she wishes.

Because he's crying. That sweet boy is crying and he won't move and she can do nothing but cry out to him and beg him to return. She can do nothing but worry as Fai reaches over her to try to take the book to no avail. Nothing but try to do the same. Nothing but pray as Kurogane tries the same, knowing that strength is not the matter here, if Fai couldn't then he wouldn't be able to either. But Fai had cast a desperate and resolute look to Kurogane, and who could resist that?

He hardly had to tug, and the book was free.

Syaoran sobbed an apology and went limp as Kurogane hastened to catch him.

There was a look Sakura barely remembered from her childhood. It was a look her father gave to her mother when he was out of his depth, and asking for what to do next. A look that belayed absolute trust and certainty that together they could figure something out. But that memory was overshadowed by Touya and Yukito doing the same thing. As she watched the adults in their ragtag group fuss over Syaoran, she knew that that memory, however precious it was to her, would soon also be overshadowed.

"What happened?" She heard Kurogane ask Fai as she hovered next to them, holding a very worried Mokona.

"The book is...magic. Not too surprising, considering this country. But it's considerably strong, to have...and this cover." Fai stopped talking to give them all a weary smile. “We’ll have to research this.”

Sakura nodded, and Mokona pointed out that they were broke and had nowhere to take Syaoran until he woke up again. Sakura was about to suggest going to a park until it got dark and they had to find lodgings, but was interrupted by a girl that rounded the corner, a trail of books hovering behind her, apparently being held aloft by the wand in her hand. "Ah! Is he all right?" Then her eyes fell on the book still in Kurogane's hand. "First time using the memory book? I remember when my sister opened it up after her girlfriend handed her the “silly book with nothing in it’. The look on her face when I finally told her girlfriend to take it back was hilarious! The things she learned about her! There’s one in the library by our apartment too. Oh, right. So is it his first time?" She nodded at Syaoran.  
  
Sakura nodded fervently while Fai verbally assented.   
  
"He might be out for a while then. But he should be just fine. There’s an infirmary wing with beds, down on the ground floor. Do you know where it is? Should I lead you to it?"   
  
"Yes please, that's very kind of you." Sakura said earnestly. The passerby smiled and bid them to follow her down the hall to the stairs.   
  
As Kurogane was about to put the book away to better carry Syaoran, Fai took it from his hand. He was careful not to open it, and ran to catch up with girl who was still being followed by her trail of books.   
  
"Excuse me! I have a few questions about this book."   
  
"Oh of course!"   
  


* * *

  
  
Kurogane insisted on staying to watch Syaoran if need be, much to Fai's delight.   
  
"Kuro-daddy is such a good father! He makes sure to take care of his son when he's sick! He deserves a Father-of-the-Year award! I think I saw a mug in a shop down the street that said that! Hey, Sakura-chan, we should go buy it for him!"   
  
"If taking care of a sick son makes an exemplary father in your book, then your dad was probably shit. It's called being decent. The bare minimum." Kurogane wasn't impressed.  
  
"Can't take a compliment, can he?" Fai whispered conspiratorially to Sakura. "Kuro-puppy is shy."   
  
Which led to Fai being kicked rather roughly off of the edge of Syaoran’s bed.

Sakura smiled absentmindedly at their fighting, but she didn’t take her eyes off of the boy on the bed. Mokona sat next to his head on the pillow and was smoothing his hair down.

“Do you think he’ll take a long time to wake up?” Mokona asked with a crease in her brow.

“I’m sure he’ll be just fine, Moko-chan. The nurse said it happened all the time.”

“She also said they stayed asleep a lot longer if whatever they saw was traumatic enough.” Mokona said, and turned to look at Kurogane, who was still barking at Fai. Sakura nodded. They kept silent about their individual suspicions.

Fai had managed to somewhat calm the ninja by insisting that “no one as loud as you are could possibly be shy anyway!” Kurogane seemed to take that only a little bit better. Mokona giggled from her perch on the bed.

When things were settled down at last, Fai remarked that the girl had mentioned that they could access the records of all of the books in the library if they were so interested in the history of it. Sakura said she would like to help him if he decided to go searching now, as Kurogane had volunteered to stay. Kurogane backed that claim by announcing that book work was boring. Mokona made a sly comment about people who didn’t read books and their resulting intelligence. Things got unsettled fast.

When that fight died down and Fai and Sakura had managed to free Mokona from Kurogane’s clutches, they sat around Syaoran’s bed, unsure of what else to do.

“It’s a wonder he’s still asleep, with how loud his fa-”

“Don’t say it.”

“Don’t say what? Faaaa-” Fai taunted.

“Please, he needs to rest!” Sakura finally spoke up. Kurogane seemed taken aback, while Fai only smiled at her delightedly.

* * *

 

“His eyes are open!”

“Are you alright? Do you feel unwell?”

Syaoran shook his head. He looked tired, and sad. He asked to speak to Kurogane and Fai had the good grace of giving them their privacy.

Mokona decided that she had something to do, and told them to go study up without her. Fai and Sakura made their way back into the main part of the library.

When looking through the records, Fai pointed out that all of the books in the library weren’t first editions. They were all reprints or, in the magical books’ case, reproductions and copies. He also voiced what he hadn’t before and asked her what the cover of the book reminded her of.

“It’s the design on my feathers!” she exclaimed.

“Right. So we can assume, if this book is a replica, then the original has to have your real feather.”

“Do you think that there’s a record here somewhere about it?” Sakura looked hopefully at the file cabinets around them. Fai grimaced.

“Perhaps there’s mention of it in a book about memory spells, or tools used in psychology, or about a magical feather that fell from the sky one day.” Fai said. Sakura smiled.

They made their way through a maze of shelves towards where they could have a copy made of the book in Fai's hand. After asking around a bit, Fai also felt confident he could figure out if there were any other books with the original feather in it if he could just find the section on rare books. Which they did. After an hour.

"This one is _Books Throughout the Ages; Excerpts from Historical Tomes of the Byzantine Era_." Sakura rambled on the title of the book on the shelf in front of her.

"Hmmm..." Fai contemplated. "Nah. Doesn't sound right."

" _Biblinventions: Books That Shaped Society_?" she read.

"No."

" _A Book On Spells of Books of Spells_."

"Nope." He paused. "What does that even mean?"

She shrugged. " _Enchanted Books and Where to Find Them_."

"Intriguing. Set it aside." He made a small noise of displeasure. "The legibility enchantment isn't working on this one. It's just scribbles." He tucked the book back where he had just gotten it. 

Sakura hastened to obey and put it on the pile next to her. “ _Magic Turned Pages_?”

Fai hummed a yes. “Sakura-chan, are you okay now? You seemed very upset before.”

Sakura paused with her hand hovering over _Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1_. “Yes, I’m alright. I was just worried.”

“Over Syaoran-kun?”

“Yes.”

“Moko-chan, Kuro-pi, and I were worried too.” Fai mentioned off-handedly.

“Yes...” Her voice had the lilt of a question.

“But you looked about ready to cry.” He took down _The Anthology of Recorded Events_ and set it atop of their pile. “And I’m not saying you’re quick to cry, princess. I mean to say that it seemed to hit you a bit differently that it did us.”

Sakura sat down on the floor with _Enhanced Books: Priceless Treasures_ and tried to hide her reddening face with its cover.

“Oh hey, that looks like a good one.” Fai said in good nature, and sat himself down to read over her shoulder. "Let’s take a look at the index, see if there’s anything to do with memory or psychology.”

They flipped absentmindedly through the pages while Sakura tried not to blush and Fai tried not to look too knowing.

“I...I was worried. Worried like all of you but...I was...I wanted to cry. Out of frustration.”

“Frustration?” Fai plucked the book from her hands and skipped to the back to browse the index.

“Yes…” She trailed off, but Fai clearly expected her to continue, so she took a breath and began again. “I...Every time something happens to one of you, I can never do anything to help.”

“Sakura…”

“And I know you’ve told me that smiling and being there and being a source of comfort is enough but. I feel useless. I don’t know why you all do so much for me. You went to witch-san for different reasons, you have no responsibility to me.”

“Sakura-chan, you know we all-”

“Care about me, I know.” she said miserably.

“We love you. We all want you to be okay and get your memories back. That’s why we do it. We don’t have to feel obligated to take responsibility. We didn’t have to be born your subjects to become them.” He said softly as he read.

“I don’t want you to feel like my subjects!” She shuffled around on the floor, having trouble in her skirts to get herself turned around and facing Fai. “You’re all my friends! Even more, you’re like my family!” Now her face was really red. She could feel it, and knowing it was there made her blush even more.

“Even Syaoran-kun?” Fai teased, but his grateful smile was genuine.

“Syaoran-kun is…” she trailed off, not trusting her voice. Fai gave a light laugh and didn’t push it. For that, Sakura was grateful.

“Oh!” Fai sounded pleasantly surprised. “I think I found something!”

* * *

 

“So if we left right now, we wouldn’t make it in time for the Central Library to still be open?” Syaoran asked Fai and Kurogane when they returned from the train station. They were meeting at the park, per Sakura’s suggestion.

Fai nodded, “Yep. So we just got the tickets for tomorrow morning instead! You two have any better luck?”

“Yes.” Sakura piped up from behind Syaoran, whom she was still watched worriedly when he couldn’t see her. She was waiting to see if she would need to catch him if he suddenly fell again.

“We found a place at the edge of the neighborhood that rents out rooms per night for tourists on a budget. It’s called a hostel. The boy that told us about it told us to be careful, because people tend to steal unattended things there, and there could be some scary people but…” Syaoran looked slightly amused as he looked at the two adults that were listening in rapt attention. “We thought-”

“-that that wouldn’t be much of a problem.” Sakura finished for him, smiling too.

“Kurogane could just glare at the bad people and they would run away screaming!” Mokona said happily. Fai laughed and Kurogane gave a wry smile.

“Well, what are the prices?” Fai asked.

Syaoran pulled a face. “How much do we have left?”

While Syaoran and Fai discussed money, Sakura, Mokona, and Kurogane wandered off to one of the benches to sit down. Sakura admired the roses while Mokona let out a loud “Oh!”.

“Has Kurogane noticed that ever since Hanshin Republic, Kurogane still hasn’t been trusted with the money?” Mokona said.

“I’m the one that has to earn that damn money. That’s more than enough contact with that stuff for me.”

“And yet we’re still broke.”

“Shut up!”

Sakura vaguely remembered the Hanshin Republic. It was the country she woke up in. Where she had met them all for the first time. It seemed like so long ago…

“Okay, who’s sleeping on the floor tonight? Kuro-tan? Thanks for volunteering!” Fai said cheerily as he walked up to them with Syaoran.

Kurogane frowned, but didn’t argue. “One bed again?”

“Yes. We’re poor, daddy. Do something about it.” Fai draped himself over Kurogane’s shoulder only to be shrugged off. “But it fits two. So I guess you and I get to have sore backs and the kids get the bed. Mokona can sleep where she wants.”

“Ah, whatever.”

Sakura knew what Kurogane meant by that ‘ _whatever_ ’. He meant ‘ _as long as they’re comfortable and we have a roof, I don’t care._ ’ Sakura smiled at him and he gave her a confused look. Fai gave him the same smile he had given him at the cafe, and he got the same look in return. Syaoran just looked at them all fondly and walked off to lead the way.

* * *

 

“I already slept on a bed today! I’ll take the floor. Kurogane-san or Fai-san can take the bed with the princess.” Syaoran argued his point for the third time in twenty minutes.

“You heard the brat.” Kurogane kicked Fai towards the other side of the room.

“But!” Fai tried to protest. Sakura patted his shoulder sympathetically as she passed him to climb into her side of the bed. Syaoran was spreading out his roll and Kurogane’s while he was busy.

“You’re not winning the argument. Shut up and stop trying.” Kurogane said.

“Okay, the argument against Syaoran-kun maybe. But with you? You always take the floor!”

“You’re not winning this one either.” Kurogane said pointedly as he sat down on his bedroll next to Syaoran. Mokona, who had taken a pillow for herself and nestled it between the bedrolls, nagged Fai to just give up because she wanted to sleep already. Fai had an expression on his face that said he could win if he were so inclined to, and Sakura found it endlessly endearing.

“Fine.” he tried to frown, but only managed it for a second before letting himself crack out a grin.

Later that night, when she was sure both Syaoran’s and Kurogane’s breaths had evened out, Sakura reached out to touch Fai’s arm, whom she knew wasn’t asleep.

“You sure you don’t want the pillow?” she whispered. Mokona was snoring from between Kurogane and Syaoran. She hoped they were all having good dreams.

Fai, who was lying facedown had to turn his head to look at her. Sakura wondered at how despite the darkness, she could see his brilliant eyes so clearly. Somehow she knew that he was thinking the same thing, but the color that he saw was green. She had an odd thought at that moment.

_We’re magic._

In this oddball world where Mokona didn’t draw attention and cutlery flew, she felt more at home than anywhere else. She knew Fai felt the same.

“I’m fine, thank you Sakura-chan.” His voice sounded sad. She could blame it on the darkness, on the hour on the clock, on how sleepy he must be. But they both knew that wasn’t it.

She gave a tiny nod and unwrapped her arm from around herself. She extended her hand and offered it to him.

He only paused for a second before shifting and taking an arm out from beneath himself. He stretched out a bit to reach. She smiled and closed the gap to hold his hand.

****  
  
  
  



	2. Nature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's how Syaoran and Kurogane found them; Sakura was smoothing out her skirts and giggling, Fai was shaking from trying to hold back a laugh, and Mokona was being very vocal about her dislike of human clothing that required the use of fingers as she hopped on his bare chest.

Mokona considered herself to be in cahoots with Fai in all things regarding Kurogane. They knew the slapstick routine, when to pause for effect, how to push just so so that their resident ninja snapped and gave chase. They didn't need signals or eye contact when they decided to make his life a bit difficult, the other improvised on the spot for the sake of comedy. Mokona liked to lighten the mood because she had been made to be a troublemaker. She was mischievous by design, and serious people like Kurogane were the easiest and funniest to play with. And for all he growled and stomped and complained, he never actually hurt them.

Well, he never hurt Mokona. Mokona was made of tougher stuff, for all she knew she looked like fluff.

Mokona didn't know why Fai played along. She knew he was mostly genuine, that he enjoyed seeing Kurogane squirm as much as she did and she knew he liked making Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun laugh. She knew he honestly liked the fun and the games and put his all into the nicknames and the teasing and the half-witted antics. In his enjoyment he was sincere. His affection was true. For the most part.

But Mokona had started to count the number of times Fai used their teamwork to distract Kurogane. Sometimes they wanted to lighten the mood for different reasons, and Mokona couldn't call Fai selfless.

Still, she loved him. She loved his smile and his character and she loved that she had a playmate when her other half was far away in the reaches of another universe.

When she woke up, Syaoran was no longer sleeping to her left, Kurogane was gone from her right. She rubbed at her eyes, and struggled to focus them when she opened them again. She could see Sakura sitting up on the bed, still in her bedclothes, and struggling with a knot in her hair. Fai was sitting behind her, with a rat’s nest of his own but he was trying to help her with hers first. Fingers didn’t make a very effective comb, Mokona contemplated.

"Do you need your brush?" she piped up.

Sakura jumped a little, and Fai turned his head to look down at her.

"Mokona! I didn't realize you were awake!" he said.

"You startled me!" Sakura gave a breathy laugh. Mokona giggled. It hadn't been her intention.

"The brush would be very much appreciated." Fai added, holding out his hand to receive it. Mokona opened her mouth and summoned it. It flew out and made straight for Sakura's head, but Fai was quick to intercept it.

"Sorry!" she cried. "My aim was really off! I could have hurt you!"

"It's okay, Moko-chan. You're just sleepy, it's not your fault. And I'm fine." Sakura reassured her with a big smile. Fai hummed in agreement and started brushing out the knots that had made themselves at home in her hair overnight. When he was done, he patted her back and sent her off to change behind the room divider that had been shoved into the corner.

"Sleep well, Moko-chan?" Fai asked after Sakura had gathered her clothes and disappeared behind the screen. Mokona nodded. “Good dreams then. Do you remember them?”

Mokona hummed, not really sure. “No, but Mokono could tell that Syaoran and Kurogane were sleeping well, so Mokona slept well too!”

"That sounds very nice." Fai grinned, stretching across the bed to reach down and scoop her up with his hand. He gently stroked her ears and Mokona nuzzled happily into Fai's palm.

"Um...Fai-san?" there was a rustle of curtains and Sakura emerged in her day clothes, blushing.

Fai cocked his head to the side as a question, and to show he was listening.

"The uh, buttons on the back, I can't..." she gave a helpless little smile and turned around to show her bare back and the few buttons she had managed to fasten all wrong.

Fai gave a light chuckle. Mokona knew the same thing had happened yesterday. He moved so as to sit on the edge of the bed and gestured Sakura to move closer. "Come here."

While Fai helped her with dressing, Mokona went to fetch Fai's clothes from their spot on the floor by the bed. She spotted his coat hanging on the doorknob and hopped across the room to retrieve it. She went back and settled on Fai’s lap, then got to work unbuttoning Fai's sleep shirt. She heard him mumble a thanks and she smiled. But she had to concentrate extra hard to get each button unbuttoned. Especially since she didn't have Fai's fancy fingers.

"Buttons are hard." she observed. Fai laughed and Sakura was quick to agree. When Fai finished with Sakura, Mokona was only done with a third of Fai's considerably less numerous buttons, but he kept still so that she could keep working.

That's how Syaoran and Kurogane found them; Sakura was smoothing out her skirts and giggling, Fai was shaking from trying to hold back a laugh, and Mokona was being very vocal about her dislike of human clothing that required the use of fingers as she hopped on his bare chest.

* * *

The flying train in LeCourt was easily a thousand times better than the bullet trains Yuuko had told her about back in the shop. Mokona watched with glee what she could from her vantage point on Kurogane's lap, being held tightly in his hand. She was humming happily, taking it all in, and watching Sakura from the corner of her eye. She had been looking at Syaoran with pain in her eyes, not doubt remembering his fainting episode the day before. They had all been so worried! Syaoran noticed her glum face, and worriedly called her name.

“No it’s nothing.” Sakura reassured Syaoran, even though Mokona knew for a fact that her upset face from before hadn’t been warranted by nothing. Syaoran seemed as convinced as Mokona, but unlike her, he chose to accept Sakura’s words and faced forward to give Mokona a small smile when he found her looking. Mokona smiled back, even if she was suffering in Kurogane’s vice grip.

“Kurogane-san, you mustn’t be so mean to Mokona.” Mokona said using Syaoran’s voice. The real Syaoran turned from her to look at Kurogane with wide eyes.

Kurogane ignored her.

“Kurogane-san, you promised you wouldn’t pick on Mokona, remember!” She tried Sakura’s voice next.

“That was too long ago,” was his only response. Pouting, Mokona opened her mouth to beg with Fai’s voice, but-

“Now, I know that Kuro-papa knows better than to treat his children roughly.” the actual Fai said.

He also got silence in reply.

Inspired, Mokona turned to Fai, and grinned. She got a grin in return. She tapped on the hand holding her prisoner to get his attention. When he finally deigned to look down at her, she pointed at her ear, and then to him, and then motioned for him to raise her thusly. Kurogane’s face remained stoic as he did so. At her destination, she opened her mouth.

“It’s not his place to treat the children roughly, at least. Now, how he treats mother…” Fai’s borrowed voice barely carried. Mokona knew better than to speak loudly and get the actual children involved.

“Oh for the love of-” Kurogane gave a long suffering sigh and shoved her at Fai. Fai looked a bit surprised, and shot them both a bemused smile. Kurogane refused to look at either of them. He let her snuggle in his lap and petted her ears absentmindedly as he watched the world fly past their window. His smile slipped off after a few minutes.

A sleepy, calm, silent atmosphere settled around them. Things were soft, and peaceful, as all four watched the clouds outside in silent rapture. It was nice. Mokona was having none of it.

Mokona chattered on, taking a liking to Syaoran’s voice in particular. She took an especial interest in saying Sakura’s name in exceedingly sweet tones and watching the pair sitting across from her get redder and redder. She heard Fai chuckle from above her and decided to give her gentle friend the same treatment. She hopped from his lap onto Kurogane’s.

“Fai.” she said gruffly. Mokona watched as Fai startled out of his reverie and turn to look at Kurogane with wide eyes. She turned her head to watch Kurogane fight back a smile and shake his head at Fai, and then nod down at her. Fai followed his line of sight and smiled down at Mokona playfully.

“Yes, Kuro-chan?”

“I-” Mokona stopped herself. Syaoran and Sakura were one thing. They were fun to play with, they were simple. Fai and Kurogane were different. Saying something even playful would be too serious a reminder. She looked over at Kurogane to think of what to say. His eyes were caught on the pale yellow halo that the sun lit around Fai’s head. “I think your hair is pretty.” she blurted out.

Fai froze, and then laughed so suddenly he started choking on it. Kurogane right next to him started cursing and told her to “Stop telling such bold-faced lies with my voice, pork bun!”

“You don’t think my hair is pretty?” Mokona used Fai’s voice, making him sound comically close to tears. Kurogane spluttered a denial, getting red in the face.

“Daddy doesn’t think Mommy’s hair is pretty!” Mokona turned to jump on Sakura and Syaoran, who had been watching the exchange with wide eyes. Fai meanwhile, was still having trouble breathing and Kurogane had begun to gingerly rub his back as he sat doubled over in his seat, wheezing.

“It wasn’t that funny.” Kurogane’s face was still tinged red.

“I- I know, it’s just,” Fai heaved in a huge breath, “hearing something so nice in that voice it was,” he exhaled loudly, “it was just so unnatural!” He rubbed at his throat as he straightened back up. “I’m not used to it, is all!”

“Hmph.” Kurogane’s hand moved from Fai’s back up to shove his hat off of his head. Fai scrambled to catch it before it reached the ground.

“Fai-san’s hair is really pretty!” Sakura said, apparently intent to make up for the lack of compliments paid to Fai. “Isn’t it, Syaoran-kun?”

Syaoran nodded fervently. Sakura nodded once too. “It’s the prettiest hair!” she insisted.

“It’s beautiful!” Mokona said, using Kurogane’s voice.

“Kurogane’s hair is pretty too.” Sakura nodded, straight-faced and looking down at Mokona as if telling her to behave. Mokona smiled innocently and agreed that Kurogane also had nice hair, using Syaoran’s voice.

As Mokona vaguely heard Syaoran’s half-hearted request that she not use anyone’s voice without their permission as she watched Fai self-consciously try to fix his hair as he put his hat back on. She watched Kurogane look at him, fighting that smile again. Watched as Fai noticed and turned to look at him, a questioning smile on his lips. Kurogane frowned and turned to look out the window. Fai looked momentarily confused, then troubled, and then she saw his smiling mask go up.

Mokona considered herself to be in cahoots with Fai...in most things concerning Kurogane.

She hopped over to their seats again and settled herself on Kurogane's shoulder. 

"Now, Kurogane..." she began using Yuuko's voice.

* * *

Mokona nodded in agreement with Fai as he held Sakura back from jumping after their friends. They were in the memory ruins of the Kingdom of Clow, in a protective maze created by using Sakura's own memory feather. Syaoran had been raring to go, eager to help Sakura gain another feather. Kurogane had made excuses, but Mokona knew that Kurogane was becoming selfless when it came to the children, and he was just as eager to help. Really, Kurogane and Syaoran were much too quick to jump into mysterious large gaping holes in the ground. Holes that had a sort of barrier, because Mokona couldn't see or hear them anymore. But she could still feel the feather's power pulsing below them. She knew, with pride, that she had led them to the right place. 

Sakura looked frustrated, sad, but mostly angry with herself. She looked down at to where their friends were no doubt fighting a tough fight and whispered, "I'm...I'm not able to do anything." 

Mokona felt bad. Surely Sakura knew how much she mattered to the two down below. Syaoran obviously wanted nothing more than to help her and keep her safe. Kurogane was just as protective. It helped them fight harder knowing that there was someone waiting for them to return safe and sound. "Sakura can do something!" Surely she had to know. And if she didn't know, Mokona would tell her herself!

“Sakura can help by waiting here for them...until Syaoran and Kurogane come back.” Mokona smiled down at Sakura from atop Fai’s shoulder. Sakura opened her mouth, as if to argue her point, but she paused, reconsidering, and gave Mokona a thankful smile.

“...You’re right.” Sakura said. Mokona jumped down to let herself be held in Sakura’s arms.

“Fighting is easy,” Fai spoke up after a while. Sakura and Mokona both turned to look at him in alarm. “Fighting is simple, Sakura-chan. What’s hard is keeping hope, not knowing if those you care about are doing well. But you have to trust that they will be alright, because they trust you to believe in them. Believing is hard. Believing takes courage, it takes willpower. It’s difficult because your own opponent is yourself. When you believe in them… you’re able to do anything.” Fai took his hand off of her shoulder.

“But the others are able to do so much!” Sakura sighed. “Syaoran-kun and Kurogane-san are amazing fighters, always defending us! And Fai-san, you can fight too, but you’re also so clever, you keep us safe in your own way. Mokona keeps us on our journey, and takes us away when it’s too dangerous. I just….all I can do is smile.”

Fai looked down at her, considering something. Mokona wanted to speak up too, but she couldn’t think of what to say to help.

Sakura was standing precariously near the edge of the dark passage that led to where Kurogane and Syaoran had gone. Mokona stared down into it from Sakura’s arms. All was silent.

“Many would envy your ability to smile, Sakura-chan.” Fai’s voice carried from behind them. Sakura looked back at him and he motioned her to go back. She sighed again and went to him.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Not everyone can smile as honestly and brightly as you can. Sakura-chan. Smiles are special things. They’re healing magic. You don’t need to know how to fight, we have Kurogane and Syaoran for that. You don’t need transport magic and an air of mischief. We have Mokona.” Fai patted the top of Mokona’s head and she giggled. “And you’re certainly clever, but your smiles are what makes you so special. At least I think so.”

“Anyone can smile, Fai-san. Your smiles are just as bright.” Sakura insisted. Fai smiled at her sadly, and asked her something with his eyes. Mokona wasn’t sure, but she began to understand that Sakura had noticed that sometimes Fai’s smiles were not sincere. Sakura seemed to understand Fai, and put her hand on his arm in comfort.

“Sakura-chan is exactly who you need to be. You’re exactly who we need. You’re just as important as those two hotheads fighting down below.” Fai ran his fingers through her hair affectionately. Mokona wished that she could make a joke and clear the heavy, sad air. She jumped onto Sakura’s shoulder to remind her that everyone loved her and cared about her a lot, but she was interrupted by the transport magic that suddenly oozed around them, depositing Syaoran and Kurogane on the ground besides them.

Something seemed wrong with Syaoran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider this me throwing fluff everywhere before I have to buckle down and get through the angst fest that is Tokyo.

**Author's Note:**

> *Nicole Kidman voice* Comments are a girl's best friend!


End file.
